The present disclosure relates to an image display device, an image display system, an image processing method, and a program that display an image captured by a microscope, and a microscope system capable of improving efficiency in case diagnosis. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to technology for improving efficiency in the diagnosis of a case employing a digital microscope.
In the fields of medicine, pathology, biology, materials, and the like, a technique of divisionally capturing an observation target area using a digital microscope and joining a plurality of obtained partial images together to obtain a wide view and high power microscopic observation image is in use. In a virtual microscope system using this technique, a user can cause an obtained microscopic observation image to be displayed at a random position and a random magnification, and can also cause the obtained microscopic observation image to be displayed at a remote place via a network. For such a reason, the technique is attracting attention particularly in the uses of biopsy and cell inspection in pathological diagnoses.
In the related art, a technique of displaying various kinds of information on a display unit together with a microscopic observation image (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-181015) has been proposed to improve convenience of a user, for example, in a medical institution.
In a pathological diagnosis system disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-181015, a diagnosis-demanding area and the like is displayed in addition to a dyed sample image (microscopic observation image), and a user makes a pathological diagnosis while appropriately modifying the microscopic observation image and the image diagnosis-demanding area displayed on a display unit.